University of Richmond Athletics
Dave Clawson Named I-AA.org National Coach of the Year
Dec. 22, 2005
UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND, Va. - Richmond head coach Dave Clawson was named the I-AA.org National Coach of the Year, officials announced Thursday morning. Clawson, who recently finished his second season at Richmond, directed one of the biggest turnarounds in 2005 I-AA football, going from a 3-8 mark in 2004 to a 9-4 record and a berth in the NCAA I-AA Playoff Quarterfinals in 2005.
The award marks the fourth Coach of the Year honor for Clawson this season, and the first national recognition since he was named the 2002 Schutt Sports/American Football Monthly I-AA National Coach of the Year as the head coach at Fordham. Earlier this postseason Clawson was the named the 2005 Atlantic 10 Conference Coach of the Year, the 2005 Richmond Touchdown Club's Virginia Coach of the Year and the VaSID 2005 Football Coach of the Year. He was also recognized as a finalist for the Eddie Robinson I-AA National Coach of the Year award.
Under Clawson's direction, The Spiders turned in a season which began by losing their first two and three of their first four, but ended the regular season on a seven-game win streak. The streak continued when the team went on the road to face the only undefeated I-AA team in the country, Hampton, and won 38-10 in the first round of the NCAA Playoffs. Richmond's loss to Furman in the I-AA quarterfinals ended an eight-game win streak, and a nine-game win streak over I-AA opponents.
No football coach in Richmond's 123-year history has engineered a six-win turnaround in his first two seasons on the job until Clawson did it in 2004-05.
Clawson, a native of Youngstown, N.Y., is a combined 41-41 in his seven-year head coaching career. He is no stranger to program turnarounds, after helping a Fordham squad go from 0-11 in his first season to 10-3 and a 1-1 mark in the I-AA Playoffs in his fourth season with the Rams.
The 2005 Spiders set numerous marks in the Richmond record books including total points, total offense as well as other individual offensive categories. The Spiders scored 349 points, the most ever at Richmond, on what ranked as the highest total offense output ever for the Spiders, 4,957 yards.